A green push has been one of the brightest spots in the Union Budget 2023-24. A very wide-ranging and encompassing set of measures has been taken to ensure a green growth trajectory for the Indian economy. Be it energy, agriculture, mobility and whatnot — all have been prefixed with ‘green’. Given the context of India’s commitment at COP26 to achieve net zero by 2070, along with other related goals, a green push was indeed pertinent and predictable, but the scale and intensity of the same is particularly heartening. It is true that the Union Budget parallelly seeks to promote infrastructure and transportation projects that will continue holding the economy bondage to coal and other fossil fuels. But this, too, is in line with India’s reservation against the complete ‘phase-out’ of fossil fuels, particularly coal, in developing countries. Apparently, India considers the optimal utilisation of fossil fuel potential by developing economies as their rightful share and even a necessity. Given the plethora of green provisions allocated to diverse sectors, the implementation, evaluation and monitoring will have to be keenly watched to ensure that the initiatives get fructified in the near future. There is no dearth of examples where environment-related catastrophes have ravaged cities, towns, villages and localities in the recent past. These are all indications that negligence in promoting green growth could be strictly unforgiving. Talking about the Central government’s initiatives, the first and foremost thing has been the priority accorded to the environment and climate change. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman counted green energy as one of the seven guiding lights — Saptarishi — for the Indian economy. The budgetary allocation for the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change increased from a Revised Estimate (RE) of Rs 2,478 crore in the last budget to Rs 3,079 crore this year. The budgetary allocation for the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy increased from Rs 6,900 crore to Rs 10,222 crore in the Union Budget 2023-24. In addition, a separate budget of Rs 459 crore has been allocated for the National Mission on Natural Farming. One can easily recollect that at the beginning of this year itself, the Central government had taken a pioneering step by launching the National Green Hydrogen Mission with an outlay of Rs 19,700 crore. It has been allotted Rs 297 crore in the present Budget. The launch of NGHM has indeed been a blend of innovation, imagination and courage. There is a large domestic as well as an international market that is waiting to be tapped. In addition to the NGHM, the e-mobility sector is another promising area in which the government has been making steady progress over a couple of years. According to a CEEW analysis, the key equipment for battery cell manufacturing is imported and their share is between 65-75 per cent of the overall infrastructure costs. In the current Budget, the government waived customs duty on capital goods and machinery required for lithium-ion battery manufacturing. This is ultimately expected to popularise electric vehicles by reducing their cost of acquisition and maintenance. It appears that the time has arrived to make a big leap in the hitherto steadily growing sector. Among many other provisions, the Union Budget has significantly increased the allocation for off-grid solar projects — a sector in which the country might still be lagging behind in achieving the stated objectives. It will be interesting to see how the government utilises the increased outlay this financial year. Another major announcement has been the green credit programme which, without burdening the corporate sector, will drive them towards enhancing environmental, social and governance (ESG) credentials. The specification of USD 2.89 billion for green projects to be funded by sovereign green bonds is yet another step in the right direction. The Mangrove Initiative for Shoreline Habitats and Tangible Incomes (MISHTI), aimed at enhancing mangrove plantations along the coastline, is also a bright spot in the Union Budget. A close analysis of these multiple green initiatives would reveal that the government’s priority has been to tap the multiple facets of the emerging green market, which is not a bad thing. It will be, however, reassuring if the government looks at the entire issue from a non-market perspective as well. It needs to play the role of a protector alongside that of a facilitator.